Following on from part two, If a 7 came on the turn to make a board of 8-6-5-7 then a player with two pair is not going to commit any more money, not serious money anyway and you have lost your chance to bust them.

But being able to go all in on the flop has put them to a very serious test and many novices could not lay this hand down. So being able to over bet the pot and move all in here is clearly advantageous. But the ability to move all in can be like holding a lighted firework in your hand. It can blow up in your face if you get your timing wrong.

This advice is basically for theoretical value only at this stage but it will help you to understand more of what you may read in Holdem poker literature or see on TV. If a beginner raised to 40 in a 10-20 game then that would be a sign of inexperience with this form of poker. It could also be an indication that they were used to limit play and did not have a clue about bet sizing in NL.

But yet a top player could make this same play and be correct to do it. So where is the difference, well the difference is that a top poker player wants to see flops and turn cards because this is where they will really get the opportunities to not only steal but to also bust their opponent. You are not going to get an opponents entire stack pre-flop unless you have AA against KK,QQ etc. But those opportunities multiply with the arrival of three flop cards.

So a top player under raises to keep weaker players in the pot deliberately and to increase the stakes. Raising to 40 will increase the size of any subsequent pot size bets immensely and this is the cumulative effect of that small bet. Back when I used to deal poker in my casino years, I regularly dealt cash games involving Dave Ulliott who you may know on TV as “Devilfish”. In the £500 sit down PL dealer’s choice game with £5-£5 blinds, he would invariably post a £10 blind straddle which is allowed in many cash games.

This move is basically increasing the game to £10 blinds, he knew that he was the best player on the table and he wanted the ability to take someone’s entire stack in one hand and it would have been difficult to do that starting the pot with only £10 in it.

But novice players would be making a big mistake escalating the pot in this way and would also be making a big mistake by under raising as well. Many players see under raising going off on TV and think that this is the way to go. It could but it most likely isn’t because it all depends on your skill from the flop onwards.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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